Somali Women

[Hawdian]

Haatu;988685 wrote:

Nice video. What those NGOs need to understand is that the first thing those women need is economic empowerment. They need skills training so they can earn a living. Teaching them their legal rights is beneficial, but it doesn't pull them out of poverty.

Mashruuc waxa weeyan ninka iyo nagta muslimka isko *** oo burburee dadkaan naftooda. Gaal amba dowlad ha sheegto amba NGO waligee waxu ka shaqeynaya wax xum . Taas wey cadey .

[Haatu]

^^^Which is why I hate NGOs. They're dariskunool (parasites).

[Alpha Blondy]

^ there is an NGO called NAFIS - Network Against FGM in Somaliland. it's not even run by women. it's run by men. that's the problem, dee.

[OdaySomali]

I snatched this post for this thread.

 

malistar2012;992325 wrote:

 

 

Kulan socon doona mudo 7 maalmood ah oo looga hadlayo sida ay haweenka Soomaaliyeed qeyb uga noqonkaraan hogaaminta Siyaasadda dalka ayaa maanta ka furmay magaalada Muqdisho.

 

 

Kulanka ayaa waxaa isugu yimid Ururrada Haweenka Soomaaliyeed ee gobollada dalka ku dhaqan, waxaana looga hadlayaa xal u helidda Hoggaanka Siyaasadda dalka iyo caqabada ka hor taagan sidii meesha looga saari, iyadoo wadatashi ay yeelan doonaan maalmaha kulammada.

 

Daahfurka kulankii ugu horreeyey ee maanta waxaa ka soo qeyb galay Haweenka Soomaaliyeed oo qaarkooda ka yimid gobollada Puntland, Agaasimaha guud ee horumarinta Haweenka iyo Qoyska ee Wasaaradda Horumarinta Adeegga Bulshada, Maxamed Cumar, mas’uuliyiin ka socotay Ururrada Bulshada Rayidka iyo saraakiil Xafiiska Qaramada Midoobay ee Soomaaliya ka socotay

Xaliimo Ismaaciil “Xaliimo Yare” oo ah Guddoomiyaha isbaheysiga Ururrada Bulshada ayaa sharraxaad ka bixisay u jeeddada kulammadan wadatashi ah ee haweenku ay uga arrinsanayaan ka qeyb-galka hoggaanka siyaasadda, iyadoo sheegtay in arrimaha ugu muhiimsan ay yihiin in Haweenka Puntland iyo Xukuumadda Federaalka Soomaaliya ee la dhisi doona doorka ay Haweenka ku lahaan doonaan la muujiyo.

 

Kulanka ayaa waxaa khubado ka jeediyey xubno kale oo ku sugnaa oo ay ka mid tahay Drs Caasho oo cudurrada haweenka qaabilsan, sidoo kale kulanka inta uu socday waxaa Qadka Telfoonka uga qeyb-galay qaar ka mid ah Ururrada Haweenka Puntland oo aysan u suurtagelin maanta in Muqdisho ay soo gaaraan, waxeyna soo dhaweeyeen wada tashiyada Haweenka ee ka qeyb-galka hoggaanka siyaasadda dalka.

 

C/laahi Shirwac oo ah Guddoomiyaha talladda Jaliyeyaasha aan dowliga aheyn, ayaa sheegay in xalka uu yahay in wadatashiyada ay Haweenku xoojiyaan, islamarkaana ay hirgalinayaan.

 

Ugu dambeyntii Agaasimaha guud ee horumarinta Haweenka iyo Qoyska ee Wasaaradda horumarinta Adeegga Bulshada Maxamed Cumar ayaa sheegay in ay jiraan Haween aqoonyahanno ah, loona baahan yahay in midnimada la xoojiyo, si xal ugu noqoto doorka ay siyaasadda dalka ku leeyihiin.

 

Kulammada oo soconaya Lixda maalmood ee soo socota ayaa ahaan doona kuwa furan, iyadoo qeybtii dambe ee kulanka ay Fanaanadda Hiba Nuura ku soo bandhigtay Heeso boggaadin ah, doodaha ay sameyn doonaan haweenka kulammada ka qeyb-galaya ayaa ka hadli doona qodobbo ay ka mid yihiin sidii Haweenka Puntland ay u heli lahaayeen kaalintooda siyaasadeed, maadaama ay socoto ololihii doorashada madaxtinimada maamulkaasi iyo arrimo kale

[OdaySomali]

 

<cite>

@maamule

said:</cite>

 

Somalia Online - Puntland’s new president, Abdiweli M. Ali Gas, has appointed more women to key cabinet positions than any of his predecessors. Puntland's newly announced cabinet includes five women ministers and deputy ministers.

 

Sahra Said Nur –

Minister,

Constitution and Federal Affairs

Anisa Abdulkadir Sheikh Nur

- Minister, Women and Family Affairs

Amina Mohamed Abdulahi

- Deputy Minister, Health

Farhia Yusuf Hersi -

Deputy Minister, Women and Family Affairs

Saida Hussein Ali Gees

- Deputy Minister, Agriculture

 

News Snippet

http://www.somaliaonline.com/puntlands-new-president-appoints-more-women-to-key-cabinet-posts/

[OdaySomali]

<cite>

@maamule

said:</cite>

 

(The Guardian) - After 18 years as a social activist in

Somaliland

, Suad Abdi feels it is time to run for parliament. But she stands as much chance of winning a seat as a camel has of passing through the eye of a needle.

 

Women face few restrictions in Somaliland, the self-declared independent republic in the north-western corner of conflict-ridden

Somalia

. They can work, own property, and be vocal on social issues. But politics remains a man's world in the former British protectorate, an oasis of stability in the region.

 

There is

only one woman among the 164 MPs

and just three in the cabinet of 40. There is not a single female judge in Somaliland, although in 2012 four deputy attorney generals were appointed for the first time.

 

Abdi, a founding member of the

National Women's Network, Nagaad

, and country representative of the charity

Progressio

, attributes the lack of women in politics to the male-dominated clan system. "Most political parties get support from clans, which decide who should become candidates and the clans don't put women forward. The clans want men because they know where the men's loyalties lie. When women marry, their loyalty changes to her husband's clan," says Abdi.

 

The clan a woman is born into tends to be reluctant to support her if she marries into another clan, yet her husband's clan may suspect she remains loyal to her own clan. Somaliland, home to 3.4 million people, consists of three main clans with eight sub-clans.

 

Abdi belongs to Somaliland's largest clan. To shake up the republic's political order, Nagaad and other civil society groups are pushing for changes in the law that would set a 20% quota for women in parliament, in the runup to elections at the end of the year.

 

An attempt in 2007 was blocked by the House of Elders, the conservative upper chamber, and a bill in 2012 ran out of time. The president,

Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo

, is on record as favouring quotas, but Abdi doubts he is 100% committed, while parliament, she says, thinks it is the responsibility of the government to take the initiative. Both favour a 10% quota. "The ball is between parliament and the president," says Abdi, who thinks 10% is too low.

 

Some question whether quotas are the solution to women's under-representation in politics, but

Helen Clark

, who was prime minister of New Zealand for three terms and now heads the

UN Development Programme

, has no such doubts. "

I think if nothing else is working, you should have quotas

," she said at the

Women of the Year lecture

in London last week.

 

"One of the things that improved representation here in the UK was Labour's women-only shortlists. Women are now much more numerous in the House of Commons. We reached the 30% representation in New Zealand, which is a

millennium development goal

, because we switched to proportional representation, partially, and parties had to put women on the party lists."

 

Quotas are increasingly common in sub-Saharan

Africa

. Since 2003, Rwanda has led the world in women's representation in a single or lower house of parliament. After the 2013 election, it had 64% women in its chamber of deputies. Nearly a dozen sub-Saharan countries top the world list, with more than 30% women in their parliaments. The first countries to adopt quotas in the 1990s and early 2000s were emerging from conflict such as Burundi, Eritrea, Mozambique and later, Angola.

 

Seeking a fresh political start after war, these countries adopted new constitutions and electoral laws that included quotas,

Gretchen Bauer

, professor and chair of political science at the University of Delaware, wrote on the Democracy in Africa blog last month. Pressure from national women's movements with support internationally and a liberation movement with a stated commitment to women's emancipation helped.

 

Other countries have since jumped on the bandwagon: Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe and for the first time, Francophone countries such as Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Senegal. Somaliland has to look only next door to Somalia, which has

35 female MPs

and [had] female foreign minister. The constitution has reserved 30% of seats for women in the lower house, although the actual numbers – 38 of 275 – total 14%. Still, that is much more than Somaliland, which prides itself as more politically advanced than Somalia.

 

Although Abdi is determined to run for office, she has no ambitions to become a minister. "When you become a government official you are accountable to the president and there is very little room for change," she says. "Leaders take criticism as personal attacks rather than constructive feedback, and you become a 'yes person'. I have my own views; I am not that kind of person."

 

Source:

http://www.theguardian.com

http://www.somaliaonline.com/there-is-only-one-woman-in-somaliland-parliament-and-activitst-suad-abdi-is-determined-to-change-that/

[OdaySomali]

I am completely aghast and cannot believe what I have just read... although I had previously heard this from the very mouth of Edna Adan Ismaciil herself, it is not untill now that I realised the gravity of the situation. So what has got me so enraged, you may be wondering? Well... read on below:

 

Apparantly [some] Somali women need permission from their husbands to have operations - even in emergency, life threatening situations (bear in mind and make the distinction that these are not women are incapable of giving consent themselves). What do you all think of that? I was reading this blog - which I have found very informative indeed - and came across this post:

 

Consent

 

I had mentioned in a recent email to my mom that on our day off (Friday), things were mostly quiet around the hospital other than a single patient in L&D. She presented that morning with regular contractions, full term, 9cm dilated, and a breech baby sitting quite high. When we examined her cervix, her membranes ruptured, expelling thick green meconium (baby poop) all over the floor. In Canada, she would have been in the OR in a matter of minutes. Things are a little different here.

 

The first important point is that women do not consent to their surgeries, but rather it is their husband who does so (or in his absence, her father)

. In our way of thinking, this would not necessarily be an impediment to care- the husband would quickly sign the consent form and the surgery would happen. Again, it doesn’t quite work this way.

 

The husbands never actually come to the hospital with their labouring wives, and so a series of cell phone calls and attempts to track him down occur if we need his consent. When he finally arrives, usually hours later, his first reaction is to decline the section. This is not necessarily based on finances (a section costs around 245,000 Somaliland shillings, or 50 USD) but rather on the immense fear that Somali people have around c-sections. They think that a c-section usually means someone is dying, or will die. It would be difficult to convince someone to consent to a surgery they associated only with death and poor outcomes. However, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they drag their feet about consent, meaning the surgery is often long delayed, the mother and baby’s conditions worsen, and outcomes are poor.

 

This particular husband wanted to think about it, and then left a few hours later to consult with his brother. He came back that afternoon, at which point he consented to the surgery and bought the necessary c-section package at the hospital pharmacy, which includes every single item needed for the section (gloves, drugs, fluids, drapes, etc.). I bumped into a midwife who told me consent had been obtained, and that the surgical team had been called (our hospital doesn’t have an on-site anaesthetist; another delay). I asked her how she had obtained the husband’s consent, and with a rarely-seen bit of spunk she said she sat him down and told him what was what: “I said to him—do you want your first and only child to die? And then your wife too?”

 

While chatting with some of the midwifery students that day, I was lamenting the fact that we were waiting all day on our day off for the husband to consent. They were surprised and said “You don’t need consent to perform surgeries in Canada?” When I explained that we needed consent from the actual patient (i.e. the pregnant woman), they all laughed out loud.

 

It is often said that health care providers can do very little to change maternal mortality outcomes in developing countries, and that real change can only come about on a political, cultural and economic level. In no way could this be more apparent than with the issue of consent.

 

http://notesfromacountrythatdoesnotexist.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/consent/

[OdaySomali]

Another post from the same blog.

 

Delays

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Harrison

 

You do not need to go to medical school, do a five-year residency in Obstetrics, and a fellowship in Fetal/Maternal Health to understand the primary cause of the majority of deaths of delivering mothers and babies in the developing world. Sure, there’s obstructed labour, placental abruption, post-partum hemorrhage and the like. But the real number one cause of maternal and fetal death in the developing world is actually a lot simpler to understand than any of those. The leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality is delay.

 

This is not a new idea. The “Three Delays of Maternal Mortality” have become somewhat of a dogma in the maternal mortality world. They are as follows:

 

1) Delay in seeking care: the decision by the patient &/or husband/family members to seek care

 

2) Delay in reaching care: usually based on lack of transportation, sometimes finances, and often on lack of de-centralized maternity care in poor countries

 

3) Delay in receiving care: they reach the local health centre or hospital but that institution does not have adequate personnel, equipment, or drugs to provide the appropriate care

 

We had a case today that really hammered home the effects of delay. A woman had been labouring here at the hospital and was close to being fully dilated when it was discovered that she had a prolapsed umbilical cord.

This means that when her water broke, the umbilical cord made its way from the uterus, through the cervix and vagina and was actually hanging out of her body with the fetus still inside. This is a serious problem as the baby’s head descending through the birth canal can compress the cord, blocking any placental blood from reaching the baby. If the cord is compressed for too long, the baby doesn’t get any oxygen and it dies. In Canada, this is a serious surgical emergency and the mother would have been in the operating room within minutes to undergo a caesarean section.

 

The surgical team closing up after a succesful c-section on a transverse baby with a prolapsed hand

 

The realization that this mother had a cord prolapse occurred at about 11:00am.

There is only one doctor staffing the entire hospital during the day and he had to be called down to assess the woman and perform an ultrasound to confirm the health and position of the baby. Delay number one. The ultrasound machine that we use in the Delivery Ward happened to break a few days ago and another ultrasound machine had to be located and wheeled to the Delivery Ward from a different part of the hospital. Delay number two.

At 11:30, with doctor and ultrasound in place, the woman was told that yes, she would need a caesarean section to deliver a healthy baby, who at this point was not in any sort of fetal distress. Her husband was not at the hospital and had to be located.

Delay number three.

When the husband was found and the midwives were able to sit down with both mother and father and explain the situation to them again, it was about noon. As often happens here, the parents were adamantly opposed to the idea of a c-section as they were sure that this meant the mother would die and told the staff that they needed to think about it.

Delay number four. A few minutes before 1:00pm, I was scrubbed into a c-section with another patient and the hospital’s only doctor. At this point, just as the first incision was being made on this other c-section, our head nurse poked her head into the door to tell the doctor that the mother who’s cord had prolapsed two hours before had decided to consent to the surgery. As we had just begun the other c-section, the decision was made to have the woman with the prolapsed cord wait while we completed the first case. Delay number five. That surgery finished at about 1:45 and the surgical team began preparing for the second, urgent case. As there is only one operating theatre in the hospital, the room had to be cleaned, re-sterilized and re-stocked before the next operation. Delay number six. At 2:00, the patient was re-examined by the midwife who noted that although the fetal heart rate was weak, it was present, meaning that the baby was still alive despite the reduced blood and oxygen supply.

At 2:15 we were finally ready to begin the second surgery and the doctor attempted to once again find the fetal heart rate through the prolapsed cord. There was none. At 2:20 he pulled out the baby, who was immediately placed on a resuscitation cart and given CPR, to no avail. This family went from having a healthy full-term baby at 11:00am to being another case of fetal death in the developing world at 2:30.

Delays.

 

 

[OdaySomali]

<cite>

@Apophis

said:</cite>

Typical reaction from qurbojoogs when they "learn" the norms and values of Somalis in Africa. I mean how dare they do things different to what the white man taught us as the right and only way to live. Bloody Uncivilised barbarians.

 

masajidka ciyaarta ka dhaya reer qurbojog.

 

And yet again another non-comment from the ever-contrarious Einstein of SOL.

 

Thanks for your thoughtful comment; I found it insightful and interesting to the extent possible. And very generous indeed of you to share your 'interesting' interpretation of my post, the nuxur of which you have clearly grasped and understood. Well done you. Please do pat yourself on the back.

[OdaySomali]

<cite>

@Apophis

said:</cite>

If there was any

"nuxur"

in your copy and paste job of a post you can rest assured it was dismissed with extreme prejudice.

 

Alright mate, whatever you wanna believe...

 

[OdaySomali]

Somali Women Cashing in on Business

 

In the Hamarweyne market, Mogadishu’s largest, 24-year-old Maryama Yunis is finding success with her tiny cosmetic store. The young Somali entrepreneur has been in business for two years, selling everything from soaps and shampoos to lipsticks and eyeliners, and now she’s turning a decent profit.

 

“As more and more young women in Somalia grow increasingly aware of their looks and like to take care of themselves, the cosmetics business has naturally grown and I took the plunge to meet that demand,” Yunis told IPS in Mogadishu.

 

Yunis is one of a growing number of women in this traditionally conservative Muslim country who are going into business because of the opportunity to attain financial independence and upward mobility.

 

Even educated women in this Horn of Africa nation are expected to focus on raising families, but attitudes are shifting alongside women’s role in society, says Hawa Dahir, a social activist in Mogadishu.

 

“Times are changing in Somalia and people are now more aware of the entrepreneurial potential of women and are more accepting of the role women can play in the economy of the family and the country as a whole,” Dahir told IPS in Mogadishu.

 

Yunis herself is a university graduate. She studied nursing but opted to pursue her dream of becoming an entrepreneur instead.

 

“With my mother’s help, I managed to convince my father to allow me to follow my dream and start the store. With the money I am earning, I am becoming more independent by the day and I’ve become an inspiration for many young women,” Yunis said.

 

But for many women, entering the world of business is not a choice but a necessity forced on them by the death or unemployment of their husbands, according to Dahir, who studies women in business.

 

Faduma Maow has a shop in the Bakara market in Mogadishu, where she has been working as a clothes trader since the death of her husband three years ago.

 

The mother of four told IPS that she takes her children, aged between seven and 15 years, to school before heading to the market.

 

“It is tough being a working parent, but it can also be rewarding. I am financially independent and pleased to say I am making progress towards my goal of raising a family and building a stable future for myself and my children,” Maow said.

 

Dahir said that while there are no reliable statistics on Somali women entrepreneurs, their presence in the country’s small business scene is “palpable”.

 

“Many women have started businesses here in Sinai and other markets in Mogadishu,” Rahmo Yarey, owner of a teashop in this busy market, told IPS. “I also hear that the same thing is happening in markets in the regions. Women are becoming breadwinners for many families in our country.”

 

Women are involved in a range of small businesses, selling clothes, cosmetics, fruit and vegetables, or khat – the leaves of the Catha edulis shrub, chewed as a stimulant in Somalia.

 

Women can also be found selling fuel in open-air markets and on street corners in Mogadishu.

 

And they are doing it all with very little assistance.

 

Somali businesswomen say working as an entrepreneur has its challenges. Firstly, it is nearly impossible to raise capital to start a business.

 

Local and international financial institutions closed down following the collapse of the central government in 1991 that marked the beginning of two decades of civil war.

 

A couple of local banks have now been established but one handles only savings and remittances from Somalis in the diaspora. The other does offer loans, but only to those who can put up collateral, which few women have.

 

“It is not possible to get money to start up a business – even more so if you are a woman,” Aisha Guled, a khat trader in Mogadishu, told IPS.

 

Guled herself got her start only thanks to support from a relative. She said that she has been struggling to make ends meet since she started selling khat.

 

“Most of us have started with the little we could get and struggled up the ladder. Some don’t make it, others remain stuck in the beginning, but some are lucky enough to break even and make a profit soon and expand,” she said.

 

Though the Somali government says it is trying to do all it can to help businesswomen working to support their families, one official told IPS that the government cannot at this stage offer financial support to businesswomen. “The provision of a secure environment for women to operate in is a key priority in supporting women in business,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

 

“Despite all the challenges that women entrepreneurs face in Somalia, the country’s womenfolk are showing that they are up to the challenge of being shrewd business operators, while maintaining their roles as mothers and wives,” Dahir said.

 

She called on academics to study the rise of Somali women in the business sphere as well as in politics and other fields in society.

 

Yunis said that as Somali society’s views and attitudes towards women’s role change, she expects more and more women to take up roles not only as entrepreneurs, but in academia and politics as they prove themselves to be equal to men in every aspect of life in Somalia.

 

“It is just a matter of time before we see many women join men in equal measure in rebuilding our country because our society is changing thanks, in part, to the changing times; women will be more equitable to men in every area,” said Yunis.

 

 

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/04/somali-women-cashing-in-on-business/

[OdaySomali]

[OdaySomali]

[OdaySomali]

[OdaySomali]

Switzerland is home to some 8,000 Somalis who have fled the civil war in their homeland. They receive help with practical integration problems from the Somali Association for Integration in eastern Switzerland, among other groups. The founder, Leyla Kanyare, is set to receive a prestigious prize for her integration work from the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom in Bern. At a party to celebrate her award, swissinfo.ch spoke to her and other Somali women about their homeland .